file photoGOP governor candidate Chris Christie and Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine face off in the gubernatorial election on Nov. 3.With Election Day still five weeks away, it’s hard to turn on a television without seeing a campaign commercial for Gov. Jon Corzine.

Republican Chris Christie, meanwhile, has resorted mostly to a far less expensive way to get his message across. He’s on Facebook and Twitter.

The 2009 gubernatorial race marks a watershed in public financing. It’s the first one in state history in which one candidate is taking public money and is constrained by a cap on spending while the other, financing his own campaign, faces no limits. And that disparity is already playing out.

As a wealthy former Wall Street bond trader and executive, Corzine has ample personal resources for an expensive campaign, and has been buying plenty of TV time. Christie, who by accepting matching public funds is much more limited in what he can spend, has been far more frugal, relying more on the social networking sites.

With New Jersey sandwiched between two of the most expensive television markets in the country, money is typically the key to election success. “Usually the candidate who spends the most wins,” said Joseph Marbach, a political scientist at Seton Hall University.

Although the Democratic incumbent already has far outspent Christie and third-party candidate Chris Daggett, he continues to trail his Republican challenger in opinion polls. Still, many political analysts say the impact of money on this expensive — and increasingly negative — campaign will not be really felt until the home stretch.

Corzine has been spending freely for months. For a June primary campaign in which he was effectively unopposed, Corzine spent some $4.5 million — nearly what Christie burned through in a fight against two other Republican candidates.

The governor continued buying television time in the New York and Philadelphia markets throughout the summer, at an estimated cost of $1 million a week, while Christie greatly rationed his spending, mostly limiting himself to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other internet sites to deliver his message at little or no cost.

“We don’t discuss our strategy,” Elisabeth Smith said. “We’ll have more than enough resources to make sure the governor’s message gets out on Election Day.”

HISTORICAL PATTERN

To get his message out in the primary, Corzine spent millions in TV and media advertising despite facing no credible Democratic opposition, campaign-finance reports show.

Christie spent $5.1 million in an unexpectedly tough Republican primary battle against conservative challengers Steve Lonegan, the former mayor of Bogota, and Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Morris).

Christie, in his fundraising for both the primary and the general election through the end of June, reported $3.6 million in contributions. Corzine reported $5.2 million during that same period, of which $3.5 million came from his own checkbook.

New Jersey’s recent history has no shortage of rich candidates dominating elections, political experts note.

“From Tom Kean Sr. on, statewide elections have been dominated by people who have the ability to self-finance or supplement their campaign coffers from their personal wealth,” said Brigid Harrison, a campaign-finance expert and political science professor at Montclair State University. She recalled how state Republicans even late last year were pushing biotech executive John Crowley to run for governor.

“He’s a great guy,” Harrison said of Crowley. “But part of the attraction was that he could put his own money into election.”

And money is still the key to winning, Harrison believes.

In the final weeks “we’re really going to see the impact of Corzine’s ability to opt out of the public funding option, and how Christie will be constrained,” she said.

She already sees it on TV. “You can’t turn on the television without seeing Jon Corzine,” Harrison said. “It’s every commercial.”

While Christie campaign officials say they are increasing their television buys, Harrison said what is noticeable is how much more Christie is using Facebook and other social networking tools.

“Christie has embraced the technology more than the Corzine campaign,” she said.

Until Corzine files new campaign-finance reports documenting his spending, there is no way for the public to know how much he is investing in the campaign, but Harrison and others predict the governor could put upwards of $35 million to $40 million into the race. That does not include the money he is contributing to local Democratic organizations at the county level to help get out the vote in November.

Ingrid Reed of the Eagleton Institute of Politics, who studies voter participation, said the fact that Corzine has more money to spend is not keeping Christie from connecting with voters.

“There is disparity, but how much difference does that make?” she said. “Given the difference in the polls in terms of who is likely to vote for either candidate, maybe Christie doesn’t have to spend as much money, if he is viewed as the ‘change’ person. But Corzine may still have to energize his base.”

Marbach said the money will really matter at the end.

“One of the challenges is voters in New Jersey are pretty uninformed and generally don’t make up their minds until two weeks before the election,” he noted. “So it requires campaigns to put most of their money into television.”